Tesco Ventures Into The E-Book Market With Mobcast Acquisition

Tesco has become the latest in a series of retail stores to offer customers an e-book provider after acquiring Mobcast for £4.5m.

The supermarket giant has strengthened its digital offerings over recent months, after taking a 91% stake in digital music service We7 for £10.8m in June.

Mobcast may be one of the lesser known ebook companies behind Kindle, Nook and Kobo, but it's performed well with tech addicts.

In 2010 it was awarded the “Best Mobile Book Company” award at the Mobile Entertainment Awards in 2010 and was selected for the Guardian Tech Media Invest 100 list, which showcases new & upcoming high-tech businesses.

But it's probably most famous because of its founder, author Andy McNab - famous for his BravoTwoZero books - who said of the takeover: "Being acquired by Tesco ensures that this original vision will be available to as many people as possible."

Michael Comish, chief executive of Tesco Digital Entertainment, said in a statement the acquisition would help it offer more choice for the "large and growing number of customers who want to buy and enjoy books on their digital devices whenever and wherever they want”.